This question was raised during the Eventing portion. Who is your favorite Dressage pair?
Mine…HANDS DOWN… Korelova and Balagur:yes:
Isabell and Stefan
Despite the ‘glitch’ in Isabell’s performance, I must say Satchmo is my favourite. His performance surpassed my expectation of him (of course I’ve heard of him, but have not seen him perform so far). His was the only test that gave me the first tinglings of anticipation so far.
The other horse and rider that really impressed me was Steffan Peters and his horse. IMHO, their test looked very solid and personally I think should have been higher. Looking forward to the Freestyle!
Steffan’s horse if GORGEOUS!:eek: Just magnificent. :yes:I love Brentina, too bad she was being a poop. She look so big and hugable! 
I thought she was ripped off last Olmpics but guess it was not meant to be.
Satchmo
Definitely my pick for this year: Satchmo. Phenomenal horse but unfortunately very complicated. I remember not too many years ago Isabell couldn’t even get him around a show ring. He has come a long way. The King of Half Pass.
I’ve also seen Salinero in better moments. Anky is just not taking RISKS at this Olympics. Isabell is a Tiger.
Isabel and Satchmo; then Balagur and Korelova.
All the above, plus your Courtney King. I love watching her ride, and Mythilus is a great dancing partner.
I really loved the Russian pair, but was also enchanted by the Australian with the Luso. I think it’s a tie between those two for me.
The black Spanish team horse was lovely and moving.
There were so many really amazing rides. SOO inspiring!
Balagur -this is his second olympic games - is an Orlov stallion by Raskat x Kolchan rider Alexandra Korelova Born August 1, 1977. 28 trained by Mr Theodorescu
http://video.mail.ru/mail/miramishorse/1/3.html
When we arrive Mr Theodorescu is finishing a training session with the Russian team member Alexandra Korelova and her horse Balagur. The pair were a sensation when they appeared at Aachen in 2005, then came back in 2006 to finish a remarkable 7th at the Aachen CHIO that was held in May to leave the traditional space for the WEG. Then it all fell apart for poor Alexandra, who having returned to Russia, found that she could not get a visa to return to Germany – and her horse! Finally after the intervention of the WEG boss, the rider arrived at her trainer’s barn in Germany, ten days before the World Championships were to begin, and with no opportunity for warm up competition. Not surprisingly, they didn’t do all that well…
Balagur is a strange looking beast, and was apparently earning an honest crust as a police horse, when Alexandra’s previous competition horse hurt himself and had to be retired. “The horse was somewhere four hours the other side of Moscow,” George recalls, “Siberia! They said come and look at him. No, you send a video. But you could see that he had wonderful movement. Just one flying change, right to left, but I said that is alright, it was a communist country. They told us, he is very quiet, when we take him to the football, he stands still for hours and nothing worries him. And when we got him here, he is such an intelligent horse…”
Alexandra is now free of her visa troubles and working at the Theodorescus, and she and Balagur look to be hitting top form in the lead up to the European Championships in Italy in September…
Meanwhile, Alexandra has got off Balagur, and decides that he needs to walk around the school a few times to cool. She throws the reins over his head, and as she walks off, whistles, Balagur follows behind.
“He is such an intelligent horse,” George muses, “At Athens I was not allowed to work with a whip from the ground in the warm up, so I took out my handkerchief, and waved it in rhythm, the horse responded as if I had my whip. The steward came running over and said, you must not use a whip! Where is the whip? I asked.”…
http://www.horsemagazine.com/ARTICLES/T/Theodorescu,%20George/index.html
As the competition began to draw to a close Russia’s Alexandra Korelova and the lovely grey stallion Balagur charmed the crowd and pleased the judges enough to gain a mark of 68.500. The girl who hails from central Russia knew that she and her special horse had done a good job. “His breeding is Orlov trotter and I have been riding him for six years,” she explained. However his appearance at Olympic level is quite something because he never performed a Dressage test until the age of 11 when he was bought by Alexandra from the local police force where he was used for crowd control and street policing. “Tonight I think he felt like he was doing crowd control again because he didn’t want to walk and was looking around the stadium but then he settled and I was very pleased with how he went,” said the rider who has trained with George Theodorescu and most recently with Monica Theodorescu and who believes that her very cute 18-year old horse still has plenty of competition years ahead of him - “he feels like a five year old!” she insisted.
http://www.knhs.nl/newsUK.asp?pCatID=18352&CatID=18352&ID=12352&style=0&zoomstyle=0&men=&ppCatID=
PS: just one side note: can you see a stallion controlling a crowd as a police horse? :shock:
Korelova and Balagur 
Without a doubt.
I reckon I’d feel like a youngster on him. You could be doing piaffe one minute and then swimming in the lake with him the next. I’d love to have a horse like that again. I’m a bit over “drama queens (kings)” at the moment.
I’m a bit over “drama queens (kings)” at the moment.
:winkgrin:
But of course Hayley and Relampango (and dear Heath and Dundee of course, solid citizen that he is!).
Hayley has a remarkable story and has come from left field to be the best scoring Aussie in HK. She was not even on the selectors’ radar! Nor the judges’, either, considering her lowish score in the GP, despite a lovely test.
Mine too. I think he adorable and they have a beautiful partnership.
Satchmo and Isabel werth
Steffen and Ravel, such pair in their formative years, it like watching a baby learn how to walk. First they takes small steps, before you know it they are running around and you can’t catch them. The future looks bright for them!
I agree 100%!! :yes:
Seb
Korelova and Balagur for me. He was a police horse? How cool - like Goldstern. That may explain why he appears so level-headed and calm.
